Stealing Stuff

[ThatReallyHurt]

I dunno... I don't think that would go over as well as it looks on paper. Look at it this way:

Gold medal goes to A!
Silver medal goes to B!
Bronze medal goes to C!

And the sweaty used undies go to D!

~ick~

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by acaba

I clicked "Whenever I can" because I then re-sell the stolen equipment to support my $200/day crack habbit. Like the crack MrBiggs is on that made him start this thread.

I thought it'd be much more distributed than this. I've probably bought 8 or 9 foil bodycords, and I'm down to like 4 now. I've even had my knickers stolen. (I guess they were the right size or whatever.) I figured alot of people steal stuff.

Guess not.

[Larrison]

As a policy I'll never steal anyone's stuff --

1) It's not something I want to encourage, since its going to make things more tense and bad feelings and expensive all around
2) You *will* be found out. This is a small community, and eventually someone *will* figure out what's happening.
3) Hey, I like my gear! and I'd hate to have someone nick it off. So, if I don't want mine nicked, why would I nick someone else's
4) It's just wrong, dude. Bad vibes all around, and negative karma for all involved. Unfun.

And.. I've found that if you find something and turn it it, there are good chances the owner will never pick it up. So you get it anyway most of the time. So why not be a hero, turn it in and get the reward -- a lot better than the worse consequences you probably will get anyway..

[akaiyuki]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

I thought it'd be much more distributed than this. I've probably bought 8 or 9 foil bodycords, and I'm down to like 4 now. I've even had my knickers stolen. (I guess they were the right size or whatever.) I figured alot of people steal stuff.

Guess not.

I think most of the time people just accidently take your gear without noticing that it's not theirs. Especially when you gears are unmarked and many of us have the exactly the same looking gears
My body cord disappeared once after a tournament, I won't say I'm 100% sure that someone jacked it on purpose tho o.O
I haven't stole anything myself but I know some people who take left over stuff from tournaments, ask around, then keeps them if nobody claims them.

[Dave]

Body wires are a nightmare. I have 3 foil body wires but I am fairly sure that they aren't the same three that I bought.

[Rolls]

I was at a local tournament once where a young girl and her mother went around the entire venue asking each person if they had her foil. They looked in unattended bags, etc... It turns out the girl had left it under a bench near her pool (probably the first place they SHOULD have looked). It was discovered later on. I guess some people have trouble keeping up with their gear.

At a NAC, one of our women epeeist had to switch body cords... She went to pick up her spare that she had brought to strip, only to discover it was no longer there. Talk about a bad time to have someone walk off with your gear.

Rolls.

[HillBilly]

never. Bad form old chaps.

[Montoya]

As was said earlier, I think that most "thefts" are inadvertent. However, when you get home, and you find someone else's gear in your bag, how hard do you try to find the owner?


At the San Diego NAC, I walked away from my strip at the end of my pool, forgetting my body cords (four from Prieur). They had my initials on them, but not my full name. I realized my mistake about fifteen minutes later, but by then, they were gone. No one ever turned them into the bout committee - who were also kind enough to make an overhead announcement. "just a body cord" but x 4, name brand - substantial expense.

Now I put my cell phone number on everything.

[The Armourer]

Trolly my iggy list just got one longer.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

I thought it'd be much more distributed than this. I've probably bought 8 or 9 foil bodycords, and I'm down to like 4 now. I've even had my knickers stolen. (I guess they were the right size or whatever.) I figured alot of people steal stuff.

Guess not.

............. the first thing you'll learn if you take a stats class is that most things follow a normal curve.

the second thing you'll learn, though, is that it is impossible to get an accurate sample. there will always be some issue with the way you're collecting data.

first of all, you're asking people if they steal (so what if it's anonymous?), second of all, you're only asking a very small group. and a lot of the people who might answer yes might just not answer at all....

don't think that this data actually reflects... well, reality.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Originally Posted by MyrddinsPrecint

............. the first thing you'll learn if you take a stats class is that most things follow a normal curve.

the second thing you'll learn, though, is that it is impossible to get an accurate sample. there will always be some issue with the way you're collecting data.

first of all, you're asking people if they steal (so what if it's anonymous?), second of all, you're only asking a very small group. and a lot of the people who might answer yes might just not answer at all....

don't think that this data actually reflects... well, reality.

are you implying that everyone who doesnt answer is a theif?

[LUDICROUS]

No, she isnt, shes saying its hard to get a good representation on this board.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Originally Posted by LUDICROUS

No, she isnt, shes saying its hard to get a good representation on this board.

god knows every theif is going to admit to their crimes on a board where quite a few people know other people....

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken!

are you implying that everyone who doesnt answer is a theif?

i'm implying that if you open the thread, read the question, and decide not to answer based on your personal feelings of the poll, it affects the results of the poll and how they compare to reality.

some of the people who don't answer will be theives-- assuming enough people view the poll. some won't. can i guess that ratio? no- for the same reasons.

[Hurriranger]

u should of made teh results public but say u didn't

[LUDICROUS]

Hey yeah, good point Hurriranger!

[DanielSun]

The thought of stealing equipment never crossed my mind. However, my coach at a certain DIV 1 mid-western university was quite the clepto. We had a huge confrontation about him stealing equipment from a competition at Notre Dame.I actually witnessed him ganking a few weapons laying by a strip. To make a long story short, he threatened to axe my scholarship, but was later forced to resign after he was caught stealing reels from our school for his personal club. Coincidentally, after doing so research, I found out he was banned from the FIE/USFA several years ago for stealing stuff from a Pan-American Games. Luckily for that university, he was replaced by a hell of a good guy, and great coach.

[Hurriranger]

well if i caught someone stealing my stuff, i would without a second thought beat the crap thro him or HER, thats right ladies! dont steal my ****!

[LUDICROUS]

Hmm, if a girl did it, I wouldn't touch her. I'm a gentleman.

I'd just tell all her fencing buddies, her coach, her club, everyone. Get her banned from everything, then offer to buy her foils at rock bottom prices .

[Irensaga]

To be honest, the fencing community is usually pretty small and really friendly. Most people know each other. I've never really heard of stealing being a problem.

It's not like this sport is popular enough to attract a lot of slimeballs.

No, I don't steal. And I haven't heard of anyone else doing so.